At our first meeting I asked students in my history class what they felt was the most important decade during the time period covered by our class (1945 - present). Here are those results:
- Seven mentioned the 1960s
- Six voted for the 1940s and for the 2000s
- Four selected the 1970s
- Twenty-three selected the check box for "I don't know enough yet"
I also asked what they felt was the most important event of our time period:
- Seven voted for the terroritst attacks on 11 September 2001 and a combination of "economy" and "recession"
- Five voted for the end of World War 2 (I included those who wrote "end of war")
- Earning two mentions each were the Cuban missile crisis, civil rights, the atomic bomb, and women's rights
On the midterm there were similar questions:
- Eighteen said the 1960s were the most important decade
- Eleven mentioned the 1940s
- Three wrote the 2000s
- Two picked the 1950s and one the 1970s
And for the reasons they wrote that their top decade was the most important:
- The civil rights movement (including the Civil Rights Act of 1964) was mentioned fifteen times
- Ten mentioned World War 2
- Six mentioned the Vietnam war
- Three mentioned the women's movement, ending the Great Depression, the Cuban missile crisis, and the atomic bomb
- Two mentioned women's efforts during World War 2, President Kennedy's election, President Kennedy's assassination, the cold war, the Bay of Pigs, and the September 11 attacks
- Earning one mention each were Watergate, the United Nations, technology, OPEC, the election of President Obama, music in the 1950s, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and "calm" in the 1950s
Since I lectured on Vietnam just before the midterm, it makes sense that some of the later decades dropped in importance. I will ask students the last class meeting before the final exam to do this again, and on the final I will ask them why their ranking changed. That will mean individualizing the final exam but should result in a nice exercise in reflection.
